Automatic railway-switch



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

P. W. WI TTKOWSKI. 4

AUTOMATIC RAILWAY SWITCH.

No. 524,187. Patented Aug. 7, 1894.

m: Nunms PETERS cc. Padang-1o. wAmmuwu, o. c.

(No Model.) 3' Sheets-Sheet 2.

P. W. WITTKOWSKI. AUTOMATIC RAILWAY SWITCH.

Patented Aug. 7, 1894.

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(No Model.) I s sheets-sheet s. F. W. WITTKOWSKI.

- AUTOMATIC RAILWAY SWITCH. I Nof 524,187. Patented Aug. '7, 1894.

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NORRIS PETERS 00., Pnu'rouwa, WASHKNGTON, o. c.

f UNITE STATES PATENT OFF-ICE.

FRIEDRICH WILHELM WITTKOWSKI, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

. AUTOMATIC RAILWAY-SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 524,187, dated August 7, 1894.

Application filed fieptember 7,1891. Serial No' l (N modem To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRIEDRICH WILHELM WITTKOWSKI, a subject ofthe Emperorof Germany, residing at Omaha, county of Douglas, and State of Nebraska, have invented a new and useful Automatic Railway-Switch, of

which the following is a specification.

The 1dea of my invention is that I by help of my mechanism am able to operate a threethrown switch from the engine or cars and I obtain this my object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in'

whichon the main track before the switches are reached. Fig. 2 is a vertical-section on the line ab in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 0-01 in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a top view of the mechanism located on the side of the switch opposite to that on which the mechanism shown in Figs. l [03 is located. Fig.

. 5 is a vertical section of Fig. 4 on the line e f. Fig. 6 is aseries of vertical sections of Flg. 4 on the lines g-h, i-Jc, Zm, n-0 and o-q. Fig. 7 is aseries of vertical sections of Fig. 5 on the lines g-h to 10-q, the side track 13, B being open. Fig. 8 is a similar series of sections of Fig. 5,.the side track 0, 0 being open. Fig. 9 is a cross section of the hollow wheel ac-with stopwheel w on the line t-u Fig. 5. Fig. 10 is a cross section of the. top part of the rack. V

Similar letters and figures refer'to similar parts throughout the several views.

On Fig.1, on each side of the main-rails A A are placed the two wooden boxes D D to I cover and to hold in position the necessary machinery. This mechanism consists of two main-parts, 'of' which the one operates, what I will call the lock, the other operates the track-mover Q. The lock shown in vertical section in Fig. 2 consists of a solid piece of iron or-steel' E,'which is kept in vertical position by help of the two straps r, r in which it can move easily up and down.

E is at its one side provided with teeth which engage atoothed sector F and its lower end. G is notched so as to engage one of the three uniform teeth of toothed sector H. The crank on shaftR is at 1 connected with the rod I, which at its other end 2 is connected with the operating-lever K, as shown in Fig.

and liftE out of its connection with the toothed-sector H.

The operating-lever L is as shown on Fig. 2 connected with the toothed-sector H in such a way that when L is moved to the right the toothed sector H also moves to the right and when L is moved to the left, the toothedsector H also moves to the left. The toothedsector H is fastened-to the shaft M, which connects the two boxes D and D with each other and can turn in its two bearings 3 and 4 che one in box D the other one in' box D. The toothed 'sectorH has opposite its three teeth a crank N, fastened on the shaft M which at 5 is connected with the 'rod 0. The rod 0 is at its other end at 6 connected with the one arm of the lever P, of which the other arm at 7 is connected with the trackmover Q. The arm 6 under and the arm 7 above the ground. Besides, as mentioned above, the shaft M connecting the two boxes D'and D the shaft R also connects the two boxes and can turn in its two bearings Sand 9.

In box D the shaft M is connected with the operating-lever L, Fig. 3 (correspondingwith the operating-lever L Fig. 2) in such a way' that by help of the gear-wheels l0 and 11, as

shown in Fig. 3, it turns to the left when the operating-lever L is moved to the right, or

On the right side of the switch and at any 7 suitable distance from this, for instance one hundred feet, is placed under the three-thrown track, the box S (Figs. 4 and 5) tocover and to hold in its position themech'anism for the purpose. This mechanism consists, like that described on the main-track side,'of the two main parts, viz: first, the necessary machinery for operating the lock and, second, the necessary machinery foroperating the track-mover Q as desired.

As shown on the drawings the box S extends under the four rails B, A, A and C so that there is room enough to arrange the machinery which has to be operated from these four rails for the purpose of always having the main track on the left side of the switch open for that one of the three tracks, (the main track A A, the side-track O C or the side-track B B) on which the train is coming. In the boxS the three shafts T, U, and V, are arranged on their respective bearings. On the shaft T are fastened the four stop-wheels w, w, 10 w Theses'top-wheels have the stopper 12 provided with'the round bearings or shoulders, 13 and 14. Around these shoulders the hollow wheels m 00 m 00 can move independently of the movement of the shaft T. The wheel as is provided with the necessary cogs, here three, which, by making the neces-,

sary part of one rotation, here one-sixth, up or down, will raise or lower the racks Y, Y, Y Y These racks have on the top a slot 15 (Fig. 10) in which fits the under part 16 of a heavy hinge Z. The one blade 17 of this hinge Z is fastened to the side of the rail, but the other blade 18 is loose so that the hinge will not interfere with the rack in its perpendicular movements, although it by help of the slot 15 and the shape of its under part 16, has to follow the movement of the rack. In the hollow wheel is further arranged the angle lever 19 so that it can move on the pivot 20. v The spring 21 will press against the one end 22 of the angle lever 19 and-keep the other end 23 against the stopper 12 of the stopwheel 10.

To the blade 42 is fastened a free hanging piece of iron 25 of such a length that when the rack is forced downward it follows this and then strikes the arm 22 of the angle lever 19 and lifts the other end 23 of the same off of the stop wheel to, so that then again the hollow wheel on can move on the shoulders of the stop-wheel w. To the hollow wheel w is further fastened the weight 24, which will force the hollow wheel 00 when it is not stopped to raise the rack by the angle arm 19 in Fig. 6, sections 'i7o and Zm.

On the shaft U are fastened the four wheelparts, 43, 43, 43 43 in the positions shown respectively in the different sections of Fig. 6. Further are fastened to the shaft U the two half wheels 26, Fig. 6-section gh and 26 Fig. 6 section Z-m, as well as thetwo cranks 27, section ilc, and 27 section pq.

To the shaftV are fastened the half wheels 26, 26 respectively, sections g.h and Zm, and the cranks 29 and 29' respectively, sections 6-10 and pq, and finally the main crank N section n0; and this crank is by the rod 0 connected with the arm N of the wheel part 1-1 in Fig. 2. The two shafts U and V are placed at such a distance from each other that the wheel-parts and cranks fastened to them can work together as shown, on the drawings.

The wheels 43, 43', 43 43 fastened to the shaft U match the racks 31, 31, 31 31 which can only move up and down in their respective straps fastened to the cross-timbers 32, 32, 32 32 in the box Sthe top parts of these racks are built similar to those of racks Y, &c., for the lock mentioned before, only the hinge Z is single.

The connection, between the lock mechanism carried by the shaft T and the switch mechanism carried by the shafts U and V is represented on Fig. 6 in the different sections and is arranged as follows: To the bottom of the box are the levers 33, 33', 33 33 fastened at one end in such a way that they can turn on their respective axes 34, &c. Under the free end of the levers 35, &c., are the steel springs 36, &c., arranged and shaped so that they always willtry to force the free end of the levers upward.

To the shaft V the levers 36, &c., are fastened and that in such a way'that, as shown in sections 01-40 and Z-m, they allow the springs to force the free end of the levers upward, and so bring the pivoted end of the'lever (which has the shape of an eccentric) to support the weights 24 and 24 when they are at their highest as shown in sections 'i-7c and Zm. In sections g-h and p-q is shown how the levers 36 press the long end of the levers down and allow the weights24, &c., to drop and so force their respective racks upward.

To the shaft T is fastened the crank 40, section n-o, which is by the rod I connected with the lock Fig. 2.

As shown on Fig. 2 the spring 00 is placed between the timber y and the lug 2 on the rack E for the purpose of keeping the rack E down.

After having thus described the different mechanisms I will explain how these diEerent parts work together. 7

On Fig. 1 the main-track is shown to be open-but if I now want to run in on the left side-track C C then I run down the operative lever K which will raise the-lockpole E. After the operative-lever K has been run down, by a bar or projection on the car or locomotive or both striking its side and pushing it over, the operative-lever L will also be run down and move the wheel-part I-I one tooth to the right and .j ust do this movement in right time to be caught by the notch in the bottom part of the lock-pole E and be kept in this its position. At the same time the tooth of the wheel-part H has been, moved to the right; the arm N opposite theteeth is moved to the left, pulls the rod 0, and through the angle lever P moves the track-mover Q from A A to O C. If I want to run in to the right side track 13 B then I run down the operative thereafter Iwill run down the rack 42- -which will through the shaft V and the crank N 3 operate the rod and open the track B B.

, make an angle with each other (to correspend with the part of onerevolution of the wheel 0:, Fig. 6) here. sixty degrees or onesixth of the periphery; so that L, when its arm 64: has been run-down'will come inthe position Hand the same time have moved the left tooth of the wheel-part H to the place of the middle tooth of the same wheel-part, as the points of these teeth are'one sixth of the periphery apart, and the rod 0 (see Fig. 1) has, through the lever P, moved the trackmover, Q, so that the main-track A A is for the side-track O C (Fig. 1). I

The lever L (Fig. 3) is constructed similar to the lever L (Fig. 2) and will, when rundown move the track-mover Q, so that the main-track A A is for the side-track B B (Fig. 1). According to above explanation it will be understood that the engineer has it in his power, either to run down the leverL, which opens him the side track 0 C or to run down the lever L, which opens to him the side-track B B. It will also be seen that when L is run down or moved one-sixth to the right, L will be moved one-sixth to the left and when L is run down or moved one-sixth to the right, L will be moved one sixth to the left and its arm will come in perpendicular position in the place of the arm 64. Consequently when the arm 65 of the lever L is perpendicular so is the main-track AA for the side-track B B. When now another train comes along on the main-track A A and wants to run in on the side-track C 0 then it will be seen that the track-mover Q has to movethe main-track twice as far as before (from B B to O O) orin other words the leverL has tomove two times onesixth of the periphery or one-third of the same, and this is obtained as follows: The engineer runs down the lever L one-sixth of dicular and the main-track is for the main track. But now the brakeman operates, on

the first car, also a bar 61, which then wi1 1 5o run down the lever L another one-sixth of the periphery so that the arm 64 takes the I place of 65 in Fig. 2. The same way as the lever L here has been operated for moving the main-track A A from B B to O O has the lever L to be operated for moving the main-track A A from CC to B B. V v

In Fig. 2 it will be seen that the lever K is longer than the lever L and this is for the purpose of keeping E up so long that the point ofthe respective tooth of the wheel-part H can come inside the reach of the groove G in the lower end of E, and through the trackmover Q keep the respective tracks solid intheir places.

What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an automatic switch, locking mechanism'provided with an unlocking bar or lever, in combination with track shifting mechanism also provided with an operating bar or lever, said locking mechanism comprising a toothed locking bar and sector, a divergently toothed wheel H, and crank connections whereby the switch is thrown automatically after the locking bar is raised, substantially as described.

2. In a locking device for automatic switches, the combination with a pair of track levers adapted to contact successively with a moving train, of a vertically movabletoothed locking bar provided with a retracting spring, a sector meshing with saidbar, a divergently toothed wheel I-I cooperatingwithv the looking bar, and crank and rod connections for automatically moving the wheel H the distance of one tooth, at a single operation, substantially as described. FRIEDRICH WILllELlll WIT'IKOWSKI.

Witnesses:

.D. GHALMERs, G. SAALFELD. 

